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ADDRESS 



or 



HON. WILLIAM BIGLER, 



DELIVERED AT 



NEW HOPE, BUCKS COUNTY, 

•'Patriot and Union " Steam Print, Harrisburg, Pa. 






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ADDRESS OF HON. WM. BIGLER. 



Gentlemen : The people of the United 
States, once so prosperous and happy, are now 
afflcted with civil war — u gigantic strife among 
themselves ; and we, a portion of them, are 
here to-day to inquire, one of another, how this 
sad change caiue to pass, and what can be done 
to rescue our country from this dire calamity. 
It is befitting that we should thus assemble and 
counsel together on the anniversary of the 
•doption of the great charter of our liberties, 
the Constitution of the United States, which 
instrument gives us tlie right to do these things 
without the consent of Mr. Stanton ; for it pro- 
vides that "Congress shall pass no law abridg- 
ing the freedom of speech or the press, or the 
right of tho people peaceably to assemble and 
petition the Government for a redress of griev- 
ances." AVe are assembled, then, under the 
auspices of the Constitution, and shall speak 
by its authority. I intend to speak to you 
freely and fearlessly, though, I tiust, with 
proper discretion. And as for a "petition for 
redress of grievances," we intend, when the 
right time comes, to vote ourselves a "redress 
of grievances" by dismissing our present agents 
at Harrisburg (ind Washington, and selecting 
others more worthy and competent; for if the 
agency of these men in the affairs of State has 
not become a grievance, then no people were 
ever afflicted by one. Free speech, free press 
and a free ballot never were more essential to 
the institutions of the country than now ; and 
we condemn and reprobate all attempts on the 
part of those in authority to restrain or in any 
wise embarrass the free action of these vital 
agencies, so indispensable to the healthful ope- 
ration of our representative system, and with- 
out which our boasted plan of self government 
•would manifestly become delusive and fraudu- 
lent. Discusoion, unrestrained discussion, of 
all political topics is essential to an intelligent 
use of the ballot ; and it is through the ballot 
that each elector, high or low, is enabled to re- 
flect his sentiments and leave the impress of 
his will on the poli y of the Government, and 
It is in this way that we become a self-govern- 
ing people. Whoever fears or neglects in 
times like these to exercise this high preroga- 
tive in accordance with his own sentiments, 



scarce deserves the name of man, much less of 
freeman. And I may as well say at this point 
as at any other, that whataver else the Demo- 
crats of Pennsylvania may bear and endure, 
they have solemnlj' determined to resist, with 
all the means they can command, any and every 
interference with the lawful exercise of the 
right of suffrage, come whence that interfe- 
rence may. 

An election is soon to take place in this State, 
to be followed next fall in all the States by one 
of still greater importance ; ^nd as the admin- 
istration of Gov. Curtin is a more reflection 
and a true reflection of that of Mr. Lincoln, 
and as the issues and considerations that will 
enter into both these political struggley will be 
mainly the same, I shall treat them as neces- 
sarily connected. 

Of our candidates, Geo. "W. Woodward and 
Walter H. Lowrie, I have little to say. It is 
quite unnecessary to tell Pennsylvanians who 
they are, and no man's endorsement can add 
to the high reputation for integrity and ability 
so freely accorded to ihem by all fair-minded 
men. 

I spurn to defend Judge Woodward against 
the petty falsehoods invented b}' his political 
enemies, or to notice the vile aspersion on his 
good name, so characteristic of the times. He 
has a reputation for integrity and unsurpassed 
ability that will take care of itself. And as for 
the part he may act in ournational troubles, as 
Governor of the State, did I not know him to 
be as true a friend of the American Union as 
was Jackson, or Clay, or Webster, or Critten- 
den, or Douglas, or as now is James Guthrie, 
Lewis Cass, or Millard Filhuore, he could not 
get my support or vote. On this point my faith 
is unbounded. I know he will wield every 
power and influence he can command to bring 
and retain States together under one common 
Government. 

But, let us pass on. The men in authorit7 
are now to answer for their stewardship ; they 
are soon to be before the bar of the country to 
be approved or condemned, and as the custo- 
dians of the public welfare, it is not only our 
privilege, but our duty, to inquire into their 
actions and purposes. This we intend to do 



without fear, favor or partiality, but in a spirit 
of generosity. We shall remember that "to 
err is human, to forgive, diviue ;" and in pas- 
sing upon their case, we shall practice all the 
forbearance that shall be consistent with truth 
and justice. 

We all remember the high-sounding promi- 
ses made by these men when they were en- 
gaged in the pursuit of power and place — their 
pretensions to honesty and economy in the use 
of the public money— their professions of fidel- 
ity to the Constitution and the laws, as also 
their false allegations against the policy and 
practices of the Democratic party, and especi- 
ally their sarcastic ridicule of "Union-Savers." 
Now, gentlemen, although these men have 
been in power less than three years, it is con- 
ceded on all hands that, on nearly every prac- 
tical point, they have already falsified their 
past promises, and magnified the evils and 
wrongs which they so unjustly charged upon 
us. 

They were shocked with the corruptions in 
the Democratic party, and appealed to the peo- 
ple to hurl it from power and place ; but it is 
now manifest — indeed it is demonstrated by 
themselves — that in the brief period during 
which they have had possession of the public 
coffers, there has been more corruption, more 
downright stealing and swindling, than occur- 
red under all preceding administrations since 
the foundation of the Government. So profi- 
cient are the present school of pilferers, that 
they have put to shame the very best efforts of 
all their predecessors. If all that was so un- 
justly charged against the late administration 
were true, it would sink into contemptible in- 
significance compared with the magnificent 
swindling with which these "reformers" have 
already convicted each other. 

As for testimony on these points, we have it 
in volumes, as furnished by themselves. They 
here give us the case of a " house divided 
against itself ;" and I presume that Mr. Lincoln 
would say, as he did on another memorable 
occasion, that it cannot stand — that it must be- 
come "all one thing or all the other" — all rob- 
bers or all honest men. 

But to the proof. Mr. Van Wyck, one ot 
their leading spirits, in the course of an ela- 
borate speech ot specifications against the pil- 
ferers, on the 7th of February, 1862, declared 
that "the mania fur stealing seems to have run 
all through the relatiuns of government, almost 
from the General to the drummer boy. From 
those nearest the throne of power to the merest 
tide-waiter, nearly every man who deals with 
the Government seems to feel or desire that it 
would not long survive, and that each had a 
common right to plunder while it lived." 

Then, again : "As a general thing, none but 
favorites gain access there, [to the Depart- 
ments,] and none other can obtain contracts 
which bear enormous profits. They violate 
the plain provisions of the law requiring bids 
and proposals, on the false and shallow pre- 
text that the public exigency requires it." 

Mr. Dawes, another Kepublican member of 
the same Congress, made the following sweep- 
ing accusation : 



"Mr. Speaker, horse contracts have been so 
plenty that government officials have gone 
about the streets with their pockets filled with 
them, and with which they make presents to 
the clergymen of their paiishes. Some of 
these contracts have served to heal old politi- 
cal sores. The hatchet of political animosity 
is buried in the grave of public corfidence, 
and the national credit is sacrificed between 
malefactors." 

Mr. Hale, in manifest tribulation and aJarm 
at the magnitude of the corruptions about the 
Government, exclaimed in the Senate : "I de- 
clare, upon my responsibility as a Senator, 
that the liberties of this cmintryare in greater 
danger to-day from the corruptions and profli- 
gacy practiced in the various departments of 
the Government than they are from the enemy 
in the open field." 

So much for the National administration. — 
Now that of the State. The Pittsburg Gazette, 
a leading Republican organ, presents the fol- 
lowing frightful accusations and reproaches 
against Gov. Curtin : 

"We have endeavored to show that he im- 
posed upon the soldiers by farming them out 
to his friends, and then denying that he had 
employed them. We have exhibited the re- 
cord to establish the fact that he had approved 
a bill, acknowledged by him to be wrong, which 
rol)bed the treasury of many millions of money; 
that as the condition of his approval he had ta- 
ken an agreement for the State, which he ab- 
stracted and secretly surrendered to the parties 
who had given it; and that, when interrogated 
by the Legislature, he confessed the fact, and 
offered as his apology a reason which is shown to 
have been untrue." 

I have no comment to make upon develop- 
ments 80 startling. It is painful enough that 
such facts should have gone into the history of 
our great State. 

These men also complained of taxation as 
the result of Democratic policy, and promised 
to do better wlien they should attain to power. 
But they have already saddled the country with 
a system of taxation heretofore unheard of, 
searching and oppressive in its operations be- 
yond that endured under the rottenest power 
in Europe — so much so that the people of the 
United States are doomed hereafter to endure 
an unbroken career of taxation ; from the cra- 
dle to the grave they are to be hunted down by 
relentless excise officers and importunate tax 
collectora. They used to complain of an an- 
nual tax of a million and a half to pay the in- 
terest on the State debt ; but Pennsylvania's 
share of the interest on the actual and contin- 
gent debt they have created will already exceed 
twenty millions per annum., if it falls upon the 
North alone. Now, gentlemen, I think I have 
shown that these men have falsified their pro- 
mises to practice honesty and economy in the 
use of the public money. 

But, suppose their stewardship be tested by 
the stern logic of results, and it be demanded 
that they give back the country as it was be- 
fore the election of Mr. Lincoln. Give us 
back the Union ; give us back peace; give us 
back our good name among the family of na- 



tiong ; give us back our high credit ; give ns 
back our brothers, our sons, our husbands, our 
fathers, who have fallen by the scores in this 
fratricidal war. How reasonable the demand, 
and yet how vain! As lor our fallen friends, 
peace to their ashes! They have fought their 
last battle, and gone to <' that bourne whence no 
traveler returns." Oh that I were sufliciently 
gifted to contrast in letters of hving light the 
condition ol the country as it then was and as 
it now is ! From the first dawn of the morn- 
ing sun until the last ray kissed the summit of 
the Pacific njountains, it .shone upon a commu- 
nity of Statfs under a common Government, 
at peace with each other and with all mankmd 
— with a name and a flag that commanded the 
respect of all the other powers of the earth — 
with a commerce that extended t" every sea 
and every port with a hapi)y, frugal and 
flourishing people within each State, in the 
busy pursuit of the arts of peace, surrounded 
by all the blessings and felicities incident to a 
good government and high civilization. But 
now how changed the scene ! We witness State 
arrayed against State ; brother against brother; 
father against S(m,and son against father ; men 
of a con:moti descent, race, blood, flesh and 
bone — of similar habits and like aims, profess- 
ing the same religious belief — engaged in a 
deadly strife with each other; the Union 
broken and dissevered ; the land drenched with 
fraternal hlood ; the devastation of the sword 
where had flourishod the arts of peace ; and 
misery and lamentauons abounding amongst 
the people. What a sad change I And what 
an awful responsibility it imposes somewhere! 
Whoever has this to bear, let hiru call on the 
rocks and mountains to fall upon him and hide 
him from the wrath of an outraged people. 

And now, gentlemen, permit me at this point 
to congratulate you on this, that whatever else 
may be said, no fair-minded man will allege 
that these dire calamities would have befallen 
the country had the Democratic party remained 
in authority at Washington. Their causes 
would have been adjusted or removed. Sneer 
who may at the idea, I tell you impartial his- 
tory will so write it down. Our p^resent afliic- 
tions are the consequence of the temporary 
overthrow of that patriotic organization so long 
the practical censervator of the Union of the 
Slates and the peace of tlie people. If my 
sole oliject were to remind you of the virtues 
and good works of that party, and of its claims 
to your confidence and gratitude, what more 
would it be necessary for me to say — what 
more could be said .' The sad consequence of 
its downfall, witnessed on all sides, speak its 
virtues in stronger impressions than language j 
can make. 

But it will be said in defence of the men in | 
authority that se<-'Ssiou caused all those evils; j 
and we agree that secession has had a criminal ; 
part in bringing upon the country these dire 
calamities, for which its authors merit the | 
severest chastisement; and wheu tne men now 1 
in authority sliow that they had no agency in | 
superinducing stce ^^ion — that they endea- 1 
vored, in good faitu to arrest and avert it — the j 
strength of the plea will be cheerfully acknowl- i 



edged. But dropping this inquiry for the pre- 
sent, I do not see that secession in the South 
affords any sufhcient apology for the corrupt 
use of the' people's money in the North; or 
for robbing the public treasury; or stealing the 
public property ; or for violating the laws; or 
depriving lo>al citizens of their constitutional 
liberty ; though it may be and it is an apology 
for the expenditure of large sums of money. 

Secession is a vile heresy, utterly unwar- 
ranted by the Constitution. I condemn the 
theory and abhor the practice. I said to its 
advocates often, that, if attempted, it would in- 
volve the country in ruin, and that, so far as 
they were concerned, it would magnify rather 
than mitigate the evils of which they com- 
plained, and be especially criminal until those 
alleging grievances had first yonght redress at 
the fountain of political authority, in the man- 
ner prescribed in the Constitution, to wit : by 
a convention of States, emanating directly 
from the people — the remedy practiced by our 
fathers under similar circumstances, and the 
only one left to us in case of conflict amongst 
the States. 

But, gentlemen, while we thus condemn and 
reprobate secession and secessionists, how can 
we hold blameless those men of our own sec- 
tion who persistently indulged in those prac- 
tices which all could see would inevitably stim- 
ulate and promote that bad cause 1 And it is 
necessary, at this point, to inquire into the 
agency that Northern men have had in this 
work. That the primary causes of our present 
afflictions had their foundation in infidelity to 
the great compact, the anniversary of the adop- 
tion of which we this day commemorate, no 
fair public man will dare to dispute. I can 
spend but little time in reconnting the history 
of these things ; a glance at it will answer my 
purpose. What I shall allege is too well known 
to be denied. 

When experience had developed fatal defects 
in the original Articles of Coufederation 
amongst the States, and they were brought 
into serious collision with ''ach other about the 
regulation of foreign commerce and internal 
duties, Washington, and xMadison, and Frank- 
lin, and Sherman, and Hamilton, and their 
compeers, assembled at Philadelphia as repre- 
sentatives from the several States to revise and 
remodel the original compact; in their own 
words, "to form a more perfect Union, estab- 
lish justice, insure domestic tranquility, pro- 
vide for the common defence, promote the 
general welfare, and secure the blessings of 
liberty, to themselves and their posterity." To 
this work they devoted themselves with the at- 
niost diligence and with unalloyed devotion to 
the country ; and when completed, they em- 
bodied the result of their labors in a written 
Constitution, nicely defining the relations 
which the Status were thereafter to bear t© 
each other and to the Federal Government. 
This instrument, after solemn deliberation, 
was ratified by the people of the several States, 
and became the fundamental law of the land. 
This work was not accomplished without en- 
countering serious ditticulues. The ratio of 
slave representation, the rendition of fugitive 



6 



staves, and the termination of the slave-trade 
were mattevs of serious difference, which were 
Jinally adjusted by proper concessions on all 
sides. It is a fact worthy of note at this point, 
that the slave trade was terniinattd in 1808 by 
tiio votes of the Southern States, ag^iinst the 
voice of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and 
Connecticut, wliose representatives voted to 
continue it twelve years longer. The acqui- 
sitive New Englanders may have hated shivery 
sinceiely enough, but they seem to have loved 
the profits ol ttie slave trade a little more. 

At this time all the States were slaveholding 
save one ; and this new covenant between the 
States settled the slavery question in all itc 
phases, leaving each free to continue or abol- 
ish the institution; and each being a separate, 
social, and potilieal organization, it was held 
that each, to tlie lullest extent, would be re- 
sponsible befort' God and man for its action for 
or againsl the pirptjtuity of the institution. On 
this question the s*'\)aration was complete. 
There was to be no intorference by the States, 
one with another, either by word or deed. 
Pennsylvania abolished slavery. She had all 
the right to do that in peace and without rc- 
]'roa<h, and no other, that Virginia had to re- 
tain it. 

bui, gentlemen, notwithstanding this com 
pictc seltiement of the slav<-ry question by 
Washington and his compeers, there soon 
sprang up a band of reckless agitators — men 
who. havuig probably parted with their own 
slaves for a (till consideration, became exceed- 
ingly consciciiiious about the institution. The 
work of gradual emancipation, then in progress 
in some ol the Norlhern States, gave these men 
a pretext for the enunciation of their peculiar 
dogmas. They were extremely zealous, of- 
cious, and u!e(]dlcsome, often interposing their 
offices where they had no business. At a later 
day they uiade war on the Colonization So- 
ciety — an institution intended for the benefit of 
the poor Atricau — supported largely by South- 
ern men, ana at one time presided over by 
Henry Clay. Its operations were too slow lor 
this fast school of fiinatics; nor could they 
brook tlie '• injustice" of sending the African 
back to his native country. Iniinediate and 
unconditional emancipation was their theory ; 
and to this end they sent colporteurs to all parts 
of the country with pamphlets and documents 
abounding with doctrines so false and incendi- 
ary that the Southern people became alarmed 
lest insurrections and murders should be the 
result. The consequence was that the slaves 
were held iu greater restraint, denied privileges 
theretofore enjoyed, and the good work of the 
Colonization Society seriously retarded. The 
people of the South rebuked these meddlesome 
agitators, repelling their reproaches with in- 
dignation and in liie most offensive terms they 
could command. 1 hus was inaugurated that 
fatal war uf criiuination and recrimination, the 
first signs of wi.icli were so alarming to the 
Father of his country. George Washington, 
with the eye of a true philosojjlier, foresaw that 
the inevitable result of such sectional contro- 
versies wi^ulu be ihe alieuation of the North and 
South from each other ; and hence that elo- 



quent and pungent admonition, in his Farewell 
Afldress, against these evil practices and 
against the organization of geographical par- 
ties. At a later period, .Jackon and Cla)' and 
Webster united in an effort to restrain these 
wild fanatics. 

But all these warnings were without avail. 
Nothing could suffice to check these agitators 
in their destructive career. The more mani- 
fest the evil consequences of their practices, 
the more persistent and desperate they seemed 
to become. They railed against the institution 
of slavery generally, its wickedness and its bar- 
barities, reproaching slaveholders with all man- 
ner of crimes against the laws of humanity and 
civilization. Being often reminded that it was 
the constitutional right of each State to have 
the institution or not, and that the people of 
the South were only doing what we of the 
North had expressly agreed they might do, and 
that, therefore, their reproaches were cruel 
?l,nd iinjust, they seemed to become indignant 
at the Union and the Constitution, and com- 
menced to bestow upon these sacred institu- 
tions invectives at once vile and profane, aH 
teaching infidelity to the (Jonstitntiou, and hos- 
tility to the Soiitliern people. "I say, let us 
cease striking hands with thieves and adulter- 
ers, and give to the winds the rallying cry, 
'no Union with slavi'holders socially or politi- 
cally,' and up with the fl ig of disunion !" was 
the scandalous sentiment of William Lloyd 
Garrison. This is the man wlut rcscently, in 
public meetings, boasted liis elforts of twenty 
years to break up the American Union, and has 
been allowed to go scot free by this impartial 
administration, whilst Mr. Vallandigham, who 
never uttered a disunion sentiment in his life, 
for a manly difiference of opinion with the ad- 
ministration, on matters of policy, was arrosted 
at the de;id hour of night, dragg ■(! before a 
military tribunal, convicted and banished the 
country, in utter violation of the laws and of 
the Constitution. 

If further evidence of the mischievous say- 
ings and doings of his school of agitators were 
necessary, I could fninish it in ahiniilance from 
the speeches of Phillips and Gidilings and 
Spalding, and H.'ury C. Wright, and Addison, 
and scores of other*. 

The war of words of which I have spoke* 
soon led to the organization ol antagonisti* 
parties in both sections. Those of the South 
were called "Fire-Eaters," and those of the 
North "Abolitionists.'' As UMiter of conve- 
nience and brevity, 1 shall here;ilter term them 
Radicals — the Radicals of both sections. And, 
gentlemen, permit me to say v\'jMi here, by 
way of parentisesis, that, in ni}- deliberate 
judgment, it was the Radio Isvviio iirought the 
country to its present sad condition — that th«? 
Radicals of both sections h;ive cimtrol of it 
now — that the Radicals never will extricate it 
from its present afflictions. Sooner or later, 
in some way or other, that will be t!ie work of 
the conservative Democracy. 

The fanatics endangered the Union and tlie 
peace of theco'.intry in 1820, ami ;ig.iin in 1850; 
but both were saved by the patriotie states^inea 
of those days. Bat the wrganijsati^n of a see- 



tional party, with its candidates for President 
and Vice Fresident from the same section, was 
the culmination of the bickerings and wran- 
glings to wliich I have referred, and the fatal 
day for the American Republic. It was not (he 
fact tbat the individual, Mr. Lincoln, had been 
sleeted President that caused that profound 
agitation which was wituesseil in the South, 
after the election of 18G0 ; but it was the cir- 
cumstance that tne dogmas of the Abolition 
party and their reproaches of the Southern 
people and Southern institutions, had been en- 
dorsed by a majority of the Northern people. 
And here I condemn Mr. Lincoln and his party 
leaders for not attempting to assuage these 
fears and passions. I condemn them for not en- 
deavoring to save the country by peaceful means, 
when they could have saved it without the sacri- 
fice of honor or principle. Alter the election of 
Mr. Lincoln, had he, in view of the alarming in- 
dications in the South, turned his face toward 
that noble band of Southern patriots who were 
resisting the tide of secession, and said : "Go 
on, gentlemen, you are right; and when I come 
into the Presidential chair I shall act as the 
President ot the whole country, and not alone 
of that section that elected me ; the Constitu- 
tion shall be my guide, and on all points of dis- 
pute as to its meaning, I shall accept that mean- 
ing at the hands of the Supreme Court — the 
tribunal authorized to define its intentions" — 
had Mr. Lincoln said even this, secession 
would unquestionably have failed in a number 
of States now claiming to be out of the Union. 
But he allowed the storm to progress without 
interruption. 

Gentlemen, it seems to have been the fatal 
mistake of these men to imagine that they 
ttarae into the possession of the Government 
surrounded bj- no more than ordinary respon- 
sibilities — as though they had in no way con- 
tributed to imperil the countr3', and could 
await events with profound comtilacency. To 
the Southern radicals attaches tlie crime of an 
©pen attempt to break up the Union, and they 
must pay the penalty ; but men cannot beheld 
blameless, who, long before the overt act of 
rebellion occurred, enunci^ited the doctrine 
that the Union was so imperfect that it could 
not stand on the conditions of the Constitution 
— that it must change one way or the other, 
or fall. Mr. Lincoln himself did this; and for 
this, if for nothing else, he owed the country 
an explanation and an apology after his elec- 
tion. At a Republican Convention in Spring- 
tield. Illinois, in June, 1868, he enunciated 
the following startling sentiment : 

" In my opinion, it (the slavery agitation) 
will not cease until a crisis .shall have bjen 
reached and passed. 'A house divided against 
itself cannot stand.' I believe this government 
cannot endure permanently half slave and half 
free. I do not expect the house to fall, but I 
<lo expect it will cease to be didvlded. It will 
become all one thing or all the other — all slave 
or all free." 

What a frightful significance is embodied in 
tfiese few words. In my humble judgment, 
rtiis is the most harmful sentiment to the cause 
i*r the Union ever enuaciated by any public 



man in America. The Union, as framed by 
Washington and his compatriots, too imperfect 
to stand! it must change or fall! IIow sug- 
gestive and encouraging to all, in this or any 
other country, who wished it tofall! Mr. Lin- 
coln anticipates its change ; but the secession- 
ist responds, "No, rather let it fall ; for it shall 
not change in the maniur you desire." — 
Scarcely less harmful is that other idea that 
the States must all become slave or all free. 
The secessionist rolled this sentiment under 
his tongue as a precious morsel. It was a tor- 
rent of water on his wheel. He knew perfectly 
well that the idea that the States might all be- 
come slave WHS preposterous, and had only 
been used by Mr. Lincoln to conceal the enor- 
mity ot his own doctrines. Hence the senti- 
ment was pointed to, day after day, in the 
South, as evidence strong as Holy Writ, tnat 
sooner or later the institutions of (he South 
were to be assailed, regardless ot the Constitu- 
toin. 

About the same time Mr. Seward presented 
the dogma of an "irrepressible conflict" and of 
a "higher law," by which the institutions of 
the South could be overthrown. Mr. Lovejoy 
sai(i, subsequently, "There can be no Union 
till slavery is dostroyed." Mr. Greely said, 
"The Union is not worth supporting with the 
South." Mr. H. M. Addison said, "I detest 
slavery, and say unhesitatingly that I am for 
its abolition i)y some means, if it should send 
all party organizations in the Union, or the 
Union itself, to the devil." Mr. Henry C. 
Wright declared, "By all her regard for the 
generations of the future, her reverence for 
God and man, the North is bound to dissolve 
the present Union with kidnappers and mur- 
derers, and form a Northern Republic on the 
basis of 'No Union with slaveholders.' " Mr. 
Sumner, Mr. Beecher, Mr. Cbeever, and scores 
of men of that school, are, as we all know, in 
the habit of d aling in similar execration* 
against the South and against Southern men. 
These things, together with State statutes, in- 
tended to restrict, if not unlawfully to embar- 
rass, the rendition of fugitive slaves, and the 
enunciation of doctrines denying to the South 
equal rights with the North in the commoa 
territories, with many inauspicious eventa, 
such as the John Brown raid into Virginia, and 
the publication of the Helper book, served to 
stimulate Southern passions and prejudices, 
and to precipitate our present calamities. 

But enough of the say inga and doings of naen 
of ordinary position in the Republican party. 
Those of Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward will suf- 
fice. They give us the doctrine of two social 
systems or civilizations established by the Con- 
stitution, utterly incompatible with each other; 
and, consequently, according to Mr. Lincoln, 
the Government cannot endure pennanently. 
This heresy is now the chief argument of the 
impracticable rebels against the reconstructioa 
of the Uiii'ai. Very recently the Richmond 
Examiner declared "the North and the South 
are two distinct and incompatible civilizations; 
they never ag^kin can be joined together under 
one Government;" and the Now York Eoan- 
ing Post, an organ of the Nortbernra<lical8,at 



8 



a later day, announced that "there is no doc- 
trine of science clearer than the incompatibil- 
ity of these two systems." How true it is that 
extremes meet ! Hure we have the radicals of 
the North and the South embracing the same 
false doctrines. The lion and the lamb have 
lain down together. 

But now, gentlemen, I do not wish you to 
understand thnt the Government is not to be 
sustained because it is in unskillful hands. By 
no means. Nor do I desire to inflame the pas- 
sions of the people, or damage the efficiency 
ot any one in authority ; but I present these 
facts and thoughts to the end that we may read 
the future ot the men in authority by their 
past, and to show you that, because of their 
doctrines, prejudices and passions, they arc 
hopelessly incapable of practising a policy cal- 
culated to redeem the country. And I think 
it just to say, in addition, that men whose 
teachings have contributed so largely to- 
ward the' ruin of the country are not at lib- 
erty to stand back upon their dignity, when the 
country is bleeding at every pore, and sneer at 
the mere suggestion of peace — "dishonorable 
peace," as they term all ideas of settlement — 
as though it would not be more honorable in 
them to offer, and in tbe rebels to accept, su<Sh 
terms as would save the country, rather than 
to continue "this cruel war" — as though it 
would be dishonorable in them to offer terms 
of amnesty and settlement to their fellow-radi- 
cals of the South, whilst chastising them with 
the sword — as though it would have been dis- 
honorable to receive Mr. Stephens as a peace 
commissioner, (if it was really in that capacity 
that ho proposed to visit Washington.) Why, 
gentlemen, had Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward 
exerted themselves as zealously and as dili- 
gently at the right time to put down secession 
as did this rebel Stephens, it is my solemn be- 
lief that the Union never would have been se- 
riously disturbed. 

The Emperor of Russia, with all his power 
and pride, thought it no dishonor to offer 
terms to the rebellious Poles. The United 
States, when in better hands, thought it a dis- 
honor to send a peace commissioner with its 
army into Mexico. " It is the practice of sav- 
age nations only to compel defeated foemon 
abjectly to sue for peace." The powers of the 
conqueror never are so imposing as when lit up 
by the rays of mercy. 

As for honor, where distinct nations or races 
are at war with each other, the idea isaM well 
enough, and no man would hold it higher than 
myself; but it can have but little application 
where a country is at war with itself — where 
the same people fight each other. The United 
States are at war with the United States. 
What concerns the honor of one section can- 
not be entirely separated from that of the 
other. Any settlement will be honorable that 
saves the couHtry, and the sooner made the 
more honorable. I honor the late President, 
Mr. Buchanan, for his earnest and ceaseless 
efforts to .avert the calamities of secession and 
war. I shall honor Mr. Lincoln for any efforts 
which he may make, whether successful or not, 
to terminate this fratricidal strife ; and I am 



quite sure he never can bo disgraced by^any 
efforts to that end. 

Immediately after the election in 18G0, the 
gathering storm, portentous and terrible, wa« 
obvious to all who had eyes to see ; and her« 
was the point at which the men now in autho- 
rity could have accomplished a great work for 
this nation by concession and compromise. — 
But they persistently refused to do this ; and 
for that they must answer to the country. They 
must not imagine that if they succeed in put- 
ting down the insurrection in the South, that, 
therefore, they will bo held blameless befors 
the world. 1 maintain, gentlemen, and I think 
the facts will sustain me, that these men could 
have averted rebellion and civil war by honor- 
able means ; and as they will surely not give 
back the country in any better condition thaa 
that in which it was before the war began, they 
must answer for the vast sacrifices of that 
war — crime enough to sink any party or set of 
men to eternal oblivion. 

I was then your representative in the Senate, 
and was so convinced of the danger to the 
country that in December, 1860, I declared ia 
that body the opinion that, "Without compro- 
mise and settlement our destiny is inevitable — 
dissolution, civil war and anarchy are before 
us." I promptly joined that small body of men, 
headed by the lamented Crittenden, who had 
determined to save the country, regardless of 
sectional, party or personal considerations. 

I should like to talk to you at some length 
about the eflbrts to compromise and settle in 
the winter of 1860—1 ; but I must necessarily 
be brief. Of the various propositions brought 
before Congress to adjust our troubles, there 
was none that gave promise, of an effective and 
final settlement except that presented bj' Mr. 
Crittenden. It was in the nature of an equita- 
ble partition of the territories rather than quar- 
rel longer. It was believed that with this ba- 
sis, all else that was necessary could be attain- 
ed. It came from the South, aud was ge£)eronB 
to the North. We then had about 1,200,000 
square miles of common territory, and it pro- 
posed to give us all north of thirty-six degrees 
thirty minutes north latitude, being about three- 
fourths of the whole, or 900,000 square miles 
— quite all that any impartial umpire could have 
awarded us. The reasons pressed upon tbe 
dominant party in favor of the acceptance of 
this proposition, so far as related to the terri- 
tories, were these : first, if it be a material in- 
terest about which we are contending, hero is 
a Southern proposition that gives the North 
three-fourths of it ; second, if it be the appli- 
cation of a political principle, it applies the 
doctrines of the Chicago riaiform to three- 
fourths of this common territory. They were 
also reminded that, although they had legally 
elected Mr. Lincoln Preaideut, they were 
nearly a million in the minority at the polls ; 
and being so largely in the minority, if they se- 
cured the application of their principles to 
three-fourths of the common estate, they couid 
justly boast of a great victory before the world, 
and enjoy their political friumph in peace. 

For a time these views seemed to have i 
fluence with the more couservRtive of that 



9 



party ; but the radicals, ever vigilant and al- 
ways impracticable, were soon on the spot, de- 
nouncing tlie proposition as destructive of the 
' Republican party, and in direct contravention 
of that sacred instrument, the Chicago plat- 
form ! They held that the people had passed 
upon this question at the polls, and that sla- 
Tery was forever interdicted from all the terri- 
tories. In vain were these men reminded that 
a million more men had voted against Mr. Lin- 
coln than for him, and that the decision they 
claimed could by no possibility have been made. 
Equally vain was it to point to the imperilled 
attitude of the Union. They were joined to 
their idols, and determined to rule or ruin. To 
meet these objections, absurd as they were, 
the real friends of the Union and peace deter- 
mined, after consultation, to go to the people 
for relief, especially as the impracticables base 
their action on the decision of the people. It 
was to that end that I myself submitted for the 
consideration of the Senate a bill, not as char- 
ged, to amend the Constitution in an irregular 
way, but to give the people in the several States 
and Congressional districts the opportunity to 
decide whether the Crittenden proposition 
should be submitted for the ratification of the 
States, as provided by the Constitution, or 
not ; in other words, to instruct their repre- 
sentatives to vote for or agaiust its submission. 
Nothing could be fairer or safer ; it was simply 
going to the fountain of political authority for 
advice in times of serious trouble — ^just what 
our fathers did and doubtless intended we 
should do. Gen, Cameron and others at first 
declared their determination to support this 
proposition ; but they could not stand out 
against the vehement denunciations of the radi- 
cals. I verily believe that, had this bill pre- 
vailed, the Crittenden proposition would have 
been accepted by an overwhelming majority 
North and South ; but it fell, at the hands of 
the radicals, as did all other efficient means of 
settlement. I envy not the position of men 
who not only persistently refused, as represen- 
tatives, to ofi'er or accept any effective means 
of averting our present calamities, but in addi- 
tion denied the people the opportunity ef set- 
tling the question for themselves ; and for this 
great wrong they must answer to their con- 
stituents. 

But ever since that time, wily politicians of j Senate, composed 
the Republican party, hoping to mitigate these j Seward, Thompson 



been accepted by the Republicans. The trnth 
is, it was offered by the Northern Democrats 
and Southern Senators to the Republicans, 
and by them rejected. I challenge Mr. Brough 
or any other man, to show where any Republi- 
can member of Congress spoke for or voted for 
the Crittenden proposition. I aver that they 
invariably and unitedly opposed it. It never 
was considered in the House of Representa- 
tives ; and I am too familiar with what occur- 
red in the Senate to be mistaken on anj' essen- 
tial point. The Republicans of that body op- 
posed it without any exceptions. Their oppo- 
sition took the usual form of amendments and 
postponement. On the 14th of January, 1861, 
they cast a united vote against its considera- 
tion, and they did the same thing on the lotb. 
On the 17th they voted for Mr. Clark's motion 
to strike out the Crittenden proposition and 
insert certain resolutions agreeable to them- 
selves. On this vote the yeas were twenty- 
five, and the nays twenty-three, so Mr. Clark's 
amendment prevailed, and the Crittenden pro- 
position was defeated. This is the vote on 
which the cotton State Senators withheld their 
votes, and of this which I shall have occasion 
to speak hereafter. Gen. Cameron, as though 
alarmed at what had been done, immediately 
moved a reconsideration of the vote. This mo- 
tion came up for consideration the next day, 
being the 18th, when Gen. Cameron (to his 
shame be it said) voted against his own motion, 
and was sustained by every member of the Re- 
publican party. The final vote was not taken 
until the 3d of March, when every Northern 
Democrat and every Southern Senator then 
present voted in the affirmative, and every Re- 
publican in the negative. The truth is, the 
radicals of that body showed no inclination to 
settle ; they sneered at the attitude of the 
South and at the suggestion of real danger. — 
It is well known that when the Peace Confer- 
ence was in session these men exerted them- 
selves to have it filled with impracticable radi- 
cals. Mr, Chandler and Mr. Harlan were de- 
tected in this unworthy effort. 

But more and worse. After these impracti- 
cable radicals had succeeded in so diluting the 
proceedings of the "Peace Conference" as to 
destroy their influence on the Southern mind, 
and they were referred to a committee of the 
of Messrs. Crittenden, 
Trumbull and myself^ — 



crimes against the country, have been alleging Mr. Seward, in that committee, in a spirit of 
that some Republican members did vote for the sarcasm and ridicule, because even that much 
Crittenden proposition, and others against j had been done toward settlement, moved to 
them. Notonlytliis,buttheHon. JohnBrough, \ strike out those proceeding and insert certain 
the Republican candidate for Governor in ! futile words of his own. He afterwards did 



Ohio, has recently asserted that the Crittenden 
proposition had been tendered to the Southern 
by the Northern members of Congress, and re- 
jected. Wh}', gentlemen, Mr. Brough is ut- 



this in open Senate. When Mr. Crittenden 
remonstrated against his c^'MIj., he replied 
with that profound cMUjiiaoency for which ho 
is so remarkable : ■■Wliy, gentlemen, tliises- 



terly mistaken; he must be the dupe of some | citement is totally unnecessary; the troubles 
lying newspaper. No s.tatement cuuld be more I you are so alarmed about will not last ninety 
destitute of truth than this ; it is "baseless as days." 

the fabric of a vision." The reverse is much Why, gentlemen, this class of men were as 
nearer the truth, and I intend to prove it. But I t determined against any compromise as were 
have reason to thank Mr. Brough for tne state- j Messrs. Wigfall and Iverson. Mr. Wade, with 
ment, for he thereby uJmits the admissibility whom I served in the Committee of Thirteen, 
of the proposition, and that it ought to have I seemed to become distressed and indigoaat at 



10 



tlie slightest indications of settlement. About 
the same time it was that Mr. Greeley was en- 
couraging the "wayward sisters to depart in 
peace,'' for the sole purpose, as it now appears, 
of inaugurating a war of extermination against 
alavery, for I suppose no one will deny that the 
overthrow of slavery and not the restoration 
of the Union is now the real object of the 
G-reeley school of fanatics. 

But it is now said that the Southern members 

Congress could have adopted the Critten- 
den Compromise had they desired to do so. — 
No allegation could be more preposterous. 
Why, everybody knows that the Southern 
members were largely in the minority in both 
branches of Congress; how then could they 
adopt anything without Northern aid ? But 
everybody knows, besides, that the Constitu- 
tion requires a vote of two-thirds in both 
branches to submit amendments to the Con- 
stitution ; not having a majority in either 
branch, how could the Southern members cast 
a two-third vote in both ? The truth is, that 
with the vote of every Southern Senator and 
every Northern Democrat, it would still have 
required some eight or nine Republican votes 
to have submitted the proposition as an amend- 
ment to the Constitution, and not one was given 
on any occasion. But, suppose the allegation 
was true, what could it have availed to have 
adopted any measure by a mere party or sec- 
tional vote? Such action would have been 
about as effectual as the "Pope's Bull against 
ttie comet," or Mr. Lincoln's proclamation 
freeing the slaves in the heart of the revol- 
ted States. The Republican was the dominant 
party in the North, and no adjustment could 
prevail in the States without their active sup- 
port, and this was perfectly understood in the 
South. 

But I am aware that the circumstances of six 
or eight Senators from the cotton State with- 
holding their votes on Mr. Clark's amendment 
has been made the basis for this latter allega- 
tion. Now. gentlemen, see how plain a tale 
will put down this fabric, behind which these 
men seek to conceal their own deformities. It 
is true that these cotton State Senators did 
withhold their votes on the 17th, thereby al- 
lowing Mr. Clark's amendment to prevail over 
the CritteTiden proposition ; but it is equally 
true that when Gen. Cameron's motion to re- 
eonsider this vote came up the next day , those 
Senators, or as many of them as were present, 
repented their error of the day before ; and 
east their votes for the reconsideration, and it 
w;is carried by their votes ; and thus, by their 
action, the compromise was placed in precisely 
tlie same poisition which it occupied the day 
before. But if it was a grave error in the cot- 
ton States Senators to withhold their votes 
from the Compromise in this single instance, 
^hat can be said for the Republicans who 
stood up against it on that and all other votes? 

It is also said that the Sonlhern Senators 
would not have accepted Mr. Crittenden's pro- 
;positiou had it been tendered them by the 
dominant party. I never saw any sufficient 
reason fur this allegation. With few excep- 
ITioas they were openly for it. Mr. Iverson and 



Mr. Wigfall were against any settlement, but 
their influence was quite limited. Mr. Slidell 
and Mr. Mason were in the habit of dismissing 
the subject by saying the other side intended 
to do nothing. Mr. Hunter voted for it in th© 
Committee of Thirteen. Mr. Brown, of Mis- 
sissippi, when the danger became imminent, 
frequently declared to me his willingness to 
accept it. Mr. Mallory was openly for it, and 
I read a letter from him, dated about the time 
of the secession of Florida, addressed to Mr. 
Rnssell, his former Secretary, in which he 
said that Florida wonld come back into the 
Union on the basis of the Crittenden resolu- 
tions. 

Mr. Davis and Mr. Toombs, in the Commit- 
tee of Thirteen, both declared their willingness 
to accept and sustain it, if the Republican side 
would unite with them in good faith. Mr. 
Toombs said so in open Senate, as will appear 
on page 270, Congressional Globe, first parl^, 
Thirty-fifth Congress. 

The following statenaentsmadeby Mr. Doug- 
las, in the course of an elaborate speech, on 
the 3d of January, 1861, is conclusive on thi» 
point : 

" If yon of the Republican side are not will- 
ing to accept this nor the proposition of the 
Senator from Kenlucky, pray tell us what 
you will do ? I address the inquiry to the Re- 
publicans alone, for the reason that in the Com- 
mittee of Thirteen, a few days ago, evert mem- 
BKR FROM THE SoDTH, including those from ths 
Cotton States, (Messrs. Davis and Toombs) 
expressed their readiness to accept the proposi- 
tion of my xiener able friend from Kentucky as a 
final settiement of the controversy, if tendered 
and sustained by the Republican members. 
Hence the sole responsibility of our disagree- 
ment, and the only difficulty in the way of an 
amicable adjustment, is with the Republican 
party." 

These remarks were made, as 1 well remem- 
ber, before a very full Senate — in the presence 
of nearly, if not quite all, the Republicans and 
Southern Senators, and no one dare to dispute 
the facts stated. 

Mr. Pugh, on the 2d day of March, in the 
course of a very able speech, remarked: 

" The Crittenden proposition has been en- 
dorsed by the almost unanimous vote of the 
Legislature of Kentucky. It has been en- 
dorsed by the Legislature of the noble old 
Commonwealth of Virginia. It has been peti- 
tioned for by a larger rnimber of electors of the 
United States than any proposition that wa» 
ever before Congress. I bt;l»fve in my heart, 
to-day, that it would carry an overwhelming 
majority of the "peeple of my State ; aye, sir, 
and of nearly every other State in the Union. 
Before the Senators from the State of Missis- 
sippi left this chamber, 1 heard one of them, 
who assumes, at least, to be President oj the 
Southern Confederacy, propose to accept it,^ aiul 
to maintain the Union if thai proposition eovld 
receive the vote it ought to receive from the other 
side of this Chamber." 

Mr. Douglas, at the same time, said in re- 
ply : 

"I can confirm the Senator's deeianttioa 



11 



that Senator Davit himself, when on the Com- 
mittee of Thirteen was ready at all limes to 
eomprojiiise on the Crittend/n proposition. 1 
will go further, and. say that Mr. Toombs v>as 
also ready to do so." 

But if this testimony were not in existence 
at all, do we not all know that the great State 
©f Virginia endorsed this proposition and sub- 
mitted it to tiie other States as a hasis of a 
final adjustment and permanent peace V It was 
this basis on which that State called for the 
Peace Gonfereuee which assembled soon there- 
after. 

It was also endorsed by almost the unani- 
mous vote of -the Legislature of Kentucky, 
and subsequently by those ot Tennessee and 
North Carolina. 

When the struggle was at its height in Geor- 
gia, between Rohin-t Toomhsfor secession and 
A. H. Stephens against it, had those luen in 
the Committee of Thirteen, who are now;so 
blameless in their own estimation, given us 
their votes, or even three of them, Stephens 
would have defeated Toombs, and secession 
would have been prostrated. I heard Mr. 
Toombs say to Mr. Douglas that the result in 
Georgia was staked on the action of the Com- 
mittee of Thirteen. If it accepted the Critten- 
den proposition, Stephens would defeat him ; 
if not, he would carry the State out by 40,000 
majority. The three votes from the Repub- 
lican side would have carried it at any 
time; but Union and Peace in the balance 
against the Chicago platform were sure to be 
found wanting. 

But all attempts at settlement failed. Seces- 
sion and war suddenly followed ; and upon Mr. 
Lincoln and Mr. Seward devolved the duty of 
directing a bloody strife, which they could 
much more readily have averted. I have 
HOver united in complaints against the admin- 
istration for a want of vigor in the prosecution 
of the war. I think it has been managed with 
decided vigor and some ability; but the poli- 
tical policy necessarily connected with the war 
has been, in my judgment, the worst for the 
Union that the wit of man could devise, tend- 
ing directly to unite the Southern and divide 
the Northern p ople. This would seem to be 
an inexcusable error, for the division in South- 
«rn sentiment could not have been missunde- 
stood bj' the administration. It never was 
more apparent than in the large vote agninst 
secession in Virginia, Tennessee, Nqrth Caro- 
lina, Georgia and Louisiana. Indeed, at the 
beginning, the oppnmmts of secession were in 
a decided m;ijority in most of these States, and 
commanded a large majority in ail those now 
•laiming to be out of the Union. In these 
struggles tiie Unionists maintained that the 
then incoming administration coi)templat<;d 
HO interference with the local institutionR of 
Hie slavelioldiiig Stales, and thai it was (he 
true policy of tiiose Statvs to remain in the 
Uaion and contend for their rights and eqnali- 
iy under the Constitution. The secessionists 
reasoned to the contrary ; and it was for the 
administration to sustain one side or the other. 
For a time we had reason to hope that the 
tTuion men would be sustained : that th« war 



would be conducted on the principles of the 
resolutions adopted by the House of Repre- 
sentatives, in J:ily, 1801 ; and that in case of a 
decided defeat of the rehil army in the field, 
(»^hich originally represented only the seces- 
sionists and ttio de facto government,) the 
Unionists would rise up and overthrow Davis 
and his associates, and bring the revolted 
States back to their wonted allegiance. This 
was my hope, and almost my only hope for the 
Union, after war began ; but this hope was 
blasted by the nnwist^ measures of Mr. Lincoln 
and his cabinet. Their policy sustained the 
rebels and broke down the Unionists. One 
after another, in rapid succession, came the 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia; 
the act of confiscation, (harmlul only in some 
of its parts;) the message of the President for 
compensated emancipation, a measure totally 
unwarranted by the Constitution ; his procla- 
mation freeing i lie slaves in the revolted States, 

WUETHKK BELONGING TO LOYAL OR RKBEL MA.S- 

t*;rs; and next the admission of West Vir- 
ginia as a State of the Union, in utter violation 
of the fundamental law of the land; inter- 
spersed by impolitic orders, sayings and pro- 
clamations of the generals in the field; and 
thus, step by step, the men of the South who 
had defended the North and contended for the 
Union — chagrined, disheartened and humili- 
ated — were literally driven into the ranks of 
the secessionists. But for these impolitic 
measures the war would probably have termi- 
nated ere this. 

I never harl much faith in war as an agency 
of Union. It' looks-to me very like a paradox. 
1 thought it should have been avoided at any 
reasonable sacrifice, and I exerted myself to 
the utmost to attain that end. Nevertheless, 
when war began as a means to save the Union, 
I wished it success in that good work ; and 
there were times in the course of its progress 
when I thought that, with the proper political 
policy on the part of the administration, the 
desired end might have been attained. But 
this always failed. That policy would have 
conducted the war as though slavery had not 
existed — have looked steadily for help to the 
enemies of secession in the South, and not to 
the negro or the cause of the negro. Such 
policy would doubtless have divided the South- 
ern people, and possibly overthrown the de 
facto government at Richmond. But even 
with this bad policy, if, at a recent date, after 
the {M of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and the 
defeat of Lee's army at Gettysburg, the Presi- 
dent had, iu the attitude of a victor, addressed 
himself to the people of the Southern States, 
assuring them that tlie government at Wash- 
ington had no pleasure in their misfortunes 
and sufferings — that it did not seek their hu- 
miliation or sul)jugation, but simply desired to 
maintain the Civernraent as it had descended 
from the fatheis, and that so soon as resistance 
to the authority of the Government within any 
State ceased, iis equal rights and dignities with 
the other Stati m stiould be promptly recognized 
and ttbundantl.v guaranteed, visiting the penal- 
ties for resi.sti.io-, wh.itever they might be, 
up<>n the leadc s — it is quite probable, indeed 



12 



there are many things which justify the im- 
pression, that we should now witness decided, 
if not succeaslnl, movements in the South 
against the rebellion. But instead of this, men 
Irom Louisiana, who sought the countenance 
of the Government in an effort to bring that 
State back into the Union, were dismissed with 
an intimation that slavery must first bo abol- 
ished. 

Not only this, but it seems now to be a grave 
'|ucsti()!i at Wnsliington what kind of a war it 
has beeu on the other side — whether a war of 
States, as alien enemies outside of the Union, 
or a wide-spread insurrection within the seve- 
ral States. If the former, then, when defeated, 
the rebel States could only resume their func- 
tions in the Union on such terms as the con- 
queror might grant ; if the latter, then, when 
resistance ceases within a State, it would re- 
sume its functions as heretofore. I no not in- 
tend to discuss these points, for I do not con- 
cur in either of tiiese positions ; but it seems 
to me clear that those who have denied the 
right of a State to go out of the Union by its 
own action, cannot now hold that the States 
are alien enemies, though the secessionists may 
do so. But of this I am very certnin : if it be 
announced, as signified by Mr. Whiting, an in- 
timate friend of the President, that the re- 
volted States can only resume their functions 
in the Union on such terms as the Adminis- 
tration may prescribe, it would become afresh 
and powerful incentive to renewed etforts and 
continued resistance in the Southern States, 
leading them probably to the adoption of a 
guerrilla mode of warflire, by which means 
the strife might be prolonged for an indefinite 
period. 

But what do all these impolitic steps mean ? 
Are there to be no efforts for settlement and 
Union ? Is subjugation or extermination to be 
the word / Why, Mr. Lincoln told iis in his 
inaugural : "If you go to war, you canimt fight 
always ; and when, after much lo.ss on both 
sides and no gain on either, you cease lighting, 
the identical questions of intercourse will be 
upon you." Mr. Lincoln never uttered a wiser 
sentiment. It shows that before the war be- 
iran, he anticipated tiic necessity of .stopping 
\i to adjust its causes. He manifestly then con- 
u-ijipbted a war for the Union only, not for 
subjugation or extermination ; and thus he 
could seethatthe Union could only be restored 
by negotiation and settlement — that subjuga- 
tion or extermiLiation would not give back the 
(.'iiion. Both are against tht; Union ; and 
iliere was great philosophy in his smUinent, 
and had he adhered to it. md adhered lo the 
resolution of Mr. Crittendu-n, adopted by Con- 
;cress in 1861, he would doubtless have done 
his country a vital service. But the counsels 
of the radicals prevailed: and, gentiemen, I 
iear they always will prevail. 

1 do not care at this time to discuas terms 
'it settlement ; but I am exceedingly^ anxious 
that Mr. Lincoln should recur to that wise 
paragraph in his inaugural. God ki^ows, we 
have had " mucii loss on both sides and no 
gaiij on either," and now we sliould like ex- 
ceedingly to have "the identical questions of 



intercourse" and settlement. We have had 
losses enough, blood euough, taxes enough, 
drafts and conscriptions enough. We now 
want peace — such peace as will save the coun- 
try — as will give us the Union as it was, or a 
Union as similar as possible. Give us at least 
peaceful agencies with the sword, if we have 
not fought enough to mai;e it patriotic to at- 
tempt to cease. At least let the olive branch 
and the sword go into the South side by side, 
as they did in Mexico, if the fratricidal strife 
cannot entirely terminate. 

But, gentlemen, whilst shedding rivers of 
blood and spending countless treasure to put 
down rebellion in the South, let -us not forget 
that liberty is as dear to us as Union — that 
Union without liberty would be a barren 
achievement—" a word of promise to the ear, 
to be broken to the hope." Let us rather 
adopt the great sentiment of Webster, " Lib- 
erty and Union, one and inseparable, now and 
forever ;■-■ fur liberty and Union are now botk 
imperiled. The great principles of civil liberty, 
for which Hamj>den and Sydney suffered in 
England nearly two centuries ago, and the love 
of which brought our ancestors to this country, 
are imperiled by the incidents of this cruel war. 

Whilst repelling the heresy of secession, let 
us beware lest we become the victims of others 
quite as intolerable. In the midst of a bloody 
struggle with secession another issue has 
sprung up quite as startling — the issue of popu- 
lar liberty on the one hand and Executive 
power on the other. From the beginning I 
have feared this tendency as an incident of war, 
even in prudent hands. Indeed, 1 shall never 
forget the remark of a sagacious citizen, at the 
beginning of the war, touching its tendencies. 
He said it would give us dist^olution or despot- 
ism ; and unless the people were unusually 
vigilant in guarding tiieir rights, it would give 
us both. ' The Stales wrnUi be separated, and 
both sections become sulijeet to despotic rule. 
The startling sentiment has lingered on ray 
mind ever since, and the recollection of it has 
been often renewed by the eneroiciuaents upon 
constitutional liberty by the Cabinet at Wash- 
ington. 

Not only is an open, manly dissent from the 
policy of the administration held to be disloy- 
alty to the Goveriinierit. but Mr. Lincoln, in 
his Albany letter, has ei.unciated the extraor- 
dinary doctrine that "the man who stands by 
and says nothing, while the peril of his coun- 
is discussed, is to be suspected — much more so^ 
he who speaks for his country with ifs and 
bu/s." In the name of Heaven, has it come 
to this ? Cannot a man speak or think his 
sentiments without being suspected of disloy- 
alty to the GoverniVient .' " Much more so, 
he who speaks with buts and ifs .'" I have 
thought and spoken much, as doubtless you all 
have; and yet, as God is my judge, I have 
never had a thought in favor of disunion; I 
never uttered a sentiment in favor of that 
wicked work; and yet I should despise myself, 
were I capable of so far sacrificing my own 
judgment as to agree with Mr. Lincoln in his 
policy. I have differed with him, not because 
1 was less for the Union than he, but becauso 



IS 



my clear convictions were that the Union never 
BOiild be saved on his political policy. So 
feeling I must so speak, come what may. 

But to return. If any man has practiced 
•rime against the government, let him be ar- 
rested, tried and convicted, and punished ac- 
«ording to law, but not kidnapped and incar- 
cerated, and denied the writ of habeas corpus, 
to which writ even the criminal is entitled, and 
to deny which is to place the liberties of every 
•itizen at the disposal of a single man. Gen- 
Memen, we shall not act our part as freemen if 
we fail to resist these aggressions by all the in- 
fluence we can command. The Constitution 
•xpressly guarantees freedom of speech and of 
Mio press, yet everybody knows that private 
citizens have been arrested and imprisoned in 
numerous instances in utter disregard of this 
clause. The freedom of the press has been 
abridged by a system of cspoinage aud Cabinet 
and military orders. The Constitution also 
provides that in all cases of criminal prosecu- 
tion the accused shall enjoy the right to a 
speedy and public trial. This has been denied 
in many eases. Indeed, the whole of the Sixth 
article of the Constitution has been treated as 
a dead letter. 

But the most alarming heresy of the times 
is that which measures authority by necessity; 
in othe^words, which determines the author- 
ity of the President by the opinion he may en- 
tertain as to what measures will best enable 
him to suppress the rebellion. "Whatever in 
his opinion will best enable liim to do this, the 
war power, it is contended, atithorizes him to 
adopt. Away go your Constitution and laws 
"at one fell swoop!" A member of Congress 
happens to differ with the Executive, and 
forthwith the President concludes that it will 
best enable him to suppress the rebellion to 
have the refractory ftsllow kidnapped for a 
while, and so he is promptly called upon by a 
military provost. Asi many members as com- 
plain of the act are disposed of in the same 
way, until Congress is composed only of 
"loyal" friends of the President, and the Le- 
gislative department is absorbed by the Exec- 
utive. An opinion of a judge is unsatisfactory 
to the President, and forthwith Mr. Seward 
rings that potential bell, now so familiar in for- 
eign courts, and the judge is sent to prison on 
the unanswerable plea that it will best enable 
the President to put do*» ^Jie rebellion; and 
«o on till the Judicial depaiiiieftt J(^nierged in 
»he Executive, and the President clothed with 
dictatorial powers. I do not charge Mr. Lin- 
coln with any such purpos(; ; I hope better 
things; some fear it; but surely all hope that 
no such design has ever entered the brain of 
any one in authority ; and on this we all agree 
that whosoever first seriously entertains the 
idea will merit all the chastisement that man 
can visit upon man, and all the punishment re- 
9erved for the damned hereafter. Should we 
now acquiesce in these false doctrines, some 
time hence, when a worse man than Mr. Lin- 
coln becomes President, he might attempt, 
nnder the authority of these precedents, to 
usurp the Government and declare himself a 
dictator. 



Now, gentlemen, I think I have shown you 
that the men now in authority have failed to 
redeem their oft-vaunted promises of honesty 
and economy in the management of the Gov- 
ernment ; that they had an injportant part in 
sowing the seeds of discord between the North 
and South which culminated in secession and 
rebellion ; that their doctrines served to stimu- 
late and cherish jealousies aud hostilities be- 
tween the slaveholding and non-slaveholding 
States ; that by reason of their fanatical feel- 
ings against slavery, they are utterly incapable 
of conducting a war for the Union or of ad- 
justing our National troubles ; that they have 
evidently subordinated the war to the question 
of slavery, rather than the restoration of the 
Union, thereby dividing the Northern and 
uniting the Southern people ; that they have 
broken down the safeguards of the Constitu- 
tion, and thereby imperilled the liberties of 
the citizen. It is, therefore, a duty we owe to 
to the country — the whole country, to the 
cause of the Union, and to the cause of liberty 
— to dismiss them from the administration of 
the Government at the earliest day the Con- 
stitution will permit. 

I shall not defend the Deraocrafric party 
against the assaults of its old or its new ene- 
mies. It has a history which speaks for itself, 
and gives abundant assurance of the wisdom 
and patriotism which will characterize its 
policy in the future. No one can foresee whft 
action may be wise or necessary on the nnmer 
ous alternativesandixigencies which the times 
are so likely to present. This much, however, 
may be safely said; that at all times and in 
every emergency, it will stand up forthegrer.t 
principles of civil and religious liberty, as set 
forth in our present form of government — for 
our representative and judicial systems ; for 
the plan of self-governmet through the ballot; 
f r free speech and free press ; for law and for 
order ; for the just rights of the States, and 
above all and without faltering will it contend, 
with all the means it can command, for the 
Union of all the States as it was, and the Con- 
stitution with only such modifications as may 
be neccessary to make that Union more perfect 
and permanent. 

As for myself, notwithstanding all that is 
past, my hope is still in the wisdom and sense 
of justice not yet extinguished in the popular 
heart. For relief I siiouid now go where I 
sought to go before the bloody strife began — 
to tiie hearts of the people. I would take their 
advice as to proper terms of settlement and 
peace, preparatory to the ratification of such 
terms under the forms of the Constitution, h 
am, and ever have been, and shall be, for the 
Union, and shall never voluntarily yield it. — 
Gloomy as the future aeenis, I have still hope 
that, with wiser counsels, and the beneficent 
smiles of Him who directs the destiny of na- 
tions, the government and the Union may be 
saved. Let us hope for this and pray for this. 
Possibly the ordeal through whicii our govern- 
ment is now passing may fix its foundations still 
deeper and firmer, and leave its blessings lo 
unborn generations. 



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